Anticonvulsant Activity of Lacidipine against Mes- and Ptz-Induced Seizures

Pharmaceutical Science-Pharmacology for Drug Discovery

Abstract

Epilepsy is one of the challenging medical conditions affecting neonates, children and elderly. It has affected 1710 to 9780/million  populations  within India. Although  the report of this condition  dates to the prehistoric era, drugs for its treatment are not 100% effective and more often lead to toxic effects. Therefore, a potent drug or a drug adjunct is the need-of-the-hour for providing effective control for this neurological condition. The aim of the present study is to evaluate lacidipine,  a  calcium  channel  blocker  as  a  protective  agent  in  seizures  induced  by  standard  models  of  epilepsy,  namely maximal electroshock  seizure model (MES) and Pentylenetetrazole  (PTZ). Standard methods for the induction of seizures such as MES and PTZ were performed on male Wistar albino mice. The mice were then treated with vehicle/standard drug (sodium valproate)/ lacidipine. Further, the standard parameters of recovery duration were evaluated. The study revealed that lacidipine at a dose of 3mg/kg body weight significantly reduced the duration of hind limb tonic extension and postictal depression in MES. PTZ-induced seizures showed significantly reduced mean duration of hind limb tonic flexion, hind limb tonic extension, clonus and postictal depression. The findings from the present study suggest that lacidipine has potent anticonvulsant ability in better protection against MES-induced seizures over that of the PTZ-induced one.